For frequently assaulting a Japanese patient who went to a Sydney chiropractor for help with her lower back and groin discomfort, the chiropractor was sentenced to at least five years and six months in prison.
At his second trial, Riaz Behi, 47, was found guilty by a jury of 13 crimes, including aggravated sexual touching and aggravated sexual assault of a person in his custody.
Behi was given a full nine years in prison on Monday by Judge Sarah Huggett in the NSW District Court.
The practitioner abused the woman, who was 31 at the time, during 17 consultations at The Back Guys’ office in Sydney’s CBD in the beginning of 2019.
Behi pushed the woman’s underwear down during their initial meeting, completely exposing the woman’s buttocks, the woman claimed in testimony through an interpreter.
She grew to assume that changing underwear prior to a massage was customary in Australia, despite the fact that it never occurred before an appointment in Japan.
She said in court that up to the eighth meeting, when she had dozed off and was shocked awake by his finger entering her, he had moved on from massaging her buttocks to brushing his hands close to her genitals.
After the assault, the woman sobbed as she testified in court that she made a second appointment because she feared she would get into trouble if she left without one.
She didn’t want to be impolite to Behi because she had previously been told by a friend that he was a respected doctor.
She was instructed to take off her clothes again during a different visit, and as she felt Behi’s hands get close to her anus and vagina, she suddenly felt pain inside and ‘froze,’ unable to speak.
She shook her head and responded, “No,” when Behi questioned her, “How do you feel?”
She said “yes, yes, yes” when he asked “do you want me to stop” at one point.
Using Google Translate, Behi was able to connect with the woman, who requested a routine massage and requested that he never do that again.
The woman claimed that she kept returning back since the massages in other locations had eased her lower back pain.
At his first trial in March 2021, Behi testified that the woman nervously giggled after he pointed his hand “south” at their tenth meeting.
He claimed she made a series of up-and-down motions with the towel over her nose for 20 to 30 seconds before opening her eyes and laughing.
He admitted to the court, “I also awkwardly chuckled, and I reiterated, “We shouldn’t have done that.”
He said she always wore underwear during sessions, but the jurors dismissed his account of any unwanted contact.
In September 2027, Behi will be first be eligible for parole.